Women miss out on Sevens World Cup

The Welsh Women just failed to qualify for the Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament as they finished one place out of the qualifying positions in Limoges, France at the weekend.

Having opened their Pool campaign at the European Championship finals with runaway victories over Finland (45-0) and Moldova (31-10), they fell 28-5 to the Italians in their final outing.

That defeat meant Wales finished as runners-up in their Pool and were forced to face Spain in the quarter-finals. With a mounting injury list, that game was lost 14-5 as was the Plate semi-final against the French, 35-7.

Those two defeats meant it was impossible for the Welsh squad to finish in the top six, and book a trip to the World Cup finals, so the pressure was off in the game against Germany.

That was to decide who finished seventh or eighth in the final rankings. Wales ran out 20-0 victors in that game, but could only finish seventh overall.

"The game against Spain was the critical one and we could have won it. We were pressurizing their line and gave away an interception try that let them win," said Wales Women Coach Jason Lewis.

"We were hampered by losing two of our backs in the game against Italy through knee ligament injuries. Looking back, that probably stopped us from finishing in the top six.

"But the overall standard of rugby was very high and it is obvious that sevens rugby has taken off in the women's game. Some countries have made huge strides forward."

Dodgy tattoos, carthorses, Avatar and soft chins are revealed by Wales Sevens players Tom Williams and Sam Cross as they profile the Wales Sevens squad taking part in Hong Kong this weekend in the latest round of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

The youngest member of the Wales Women's squad, Keira Bevan, is hoping to repay the faith shown in her when she starts her first Six Nations game against Italy tomorrow evening in the final round of the championship.

Sevens head coach Gareth Williams is a happy man after drafting in full internationals Rhodri Williams and Adam Warren for the next two rounds of the world series in Hong Kong and Japan, as WRU TV's Graeme Gillespie discovers.